Carolina Ponce
St. John's University
Charles Wankel
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Endless Textbooks, founded by Karley Chynces, is a mobile application where students at a given university or within a community can connect and sell textbooks to each other. Endless Textbooks is looking to alleviate the debt students accumulate from buying expensive textbooks every semester. The founder believes in the philosophy that lessening their debt will give more students the opportunity to get a quality education for less and the opportunity to become part of the work force. Endless Textbooks is partnered with Alfalit, a non-profit organization who is looking to end illiteracy on a global scale. Together, they will be sending textbooks to developing countries so students there too can get the opportunity to learn.
The founder, Karley Chynces, created a mobile application that has never been used before for students to sell textbooks to each other, compared to using third party sites that charge students astronomical prices. This direct communication and transaction between students allows for cheaper prices. "Amazon and Chegg, online book selling sites, take way too long." By creating a community where students in the same area can sell books to each other, shipping costs are also eliminated.
Karley Chynces has been involved with charity and non-profit organizations for as long as she can remember. During our interview, I was pleasantly surprised to learn about her extensive involvement in her community as well as her passion for important causes.
On a mission trip to Peru during the summer of 2016, Karley was astonished and heartbroken to see how many people did not know how to read or write. She thought about how in the United States, people take books and their access to education for granted. This, in turn, inspired her to start this business which will make a large impact in the long run. "If we are able to send unused textbooks to developing countries, they will treasure it so much. Meanwhile in the US, we throw away textbooks or leave them unused in a corner". Karley wants to find a solution to this problem of unused or thrown away books by partnering with Alfalit.
The overall impact of this business is to give college students a cheaper alternative to buying overpriced textbooks online. There is also a social impact as well that comes from the donation of textbooks and books to developing countries through their partner organization, Alfalit. The founder of Endless Textbooks, Karley Chynces, stated that for $30, you can send books to these developing countries. She hopes that her business will play a role in ending illiteracy on our planet. According to Karley, "Education in the United States is human suffering", because you are leaving college with tons of debt attached to you. This hinders economic success and causes stress to hundreds of thousands of college graduates nationwide. Karley wishes to lessen the stress as well as inspire these same students to give back.
The business benefit is creating an application that is demanded by a large portion of the population. Karley, the founder is confident that this business will grow and expand to colleges and universities all over the United States. She also has plans to expand to other countries as well.
Karley Chynces has a belief that by lowering student debt, students will feel more confident to go into the workforce with little to no debt. She thinks her business will empower students to want to receive an education because it will be cheaper. There is also an extra incentive for students to download this mobile application because they are contributing to making a difference in the world.
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Karley Chynces, The Road to End Illiteracy
